Genealogical Research

Genealogical Research at the Archives
The Archives contain a number of tools which may be of value to those researching their family history. These include a variety of City Directories, telephone company directories, newspaper articles and historic photographs, maps and plans. These are accessible during regular days/times of operation.

However, the archives does not maintain actual family trees, nor are we genealogical researchers per se.

When researching genealogy, it can be helpful to know things such as who was mayor at what time and what the old neighbourhoods looked like. We have some of that information posted online for you:– The Historic Neighbourhoods

Researching UEL land grants
If the land was obtained by land grant, there must have been an application for it. KRRNY vets should have been eligible. It was quite common for people to swap their land with another, usually so that family could have adjoining property. Many did not apply for nor hold on to their granted property. Not all were farmers, especially pioneer farmers. Land not granted or abandoned (they had three years to do something productive) could have been purchased by anyone.

Cornwall (local history) Room at the Cornwall Public LibraryVolunteers and a reference librarian can be of assistance or browse the collection on your own inside the Cornwall Room as well as at a nearby stack in the main library. You’ll find historic City Directories (our collection overlaps with theirs, but they are not entirely the same), compilations of birth, marriage and death listings by parish and cemetery, United Empire Loyalists lists and more. There is no fee for guidance unless you contract with an individual to conduct research on your behalf.

Additionally members of the local Franco Ontarian genealogy group are available also in the Cornwall Room. There is a cost to access certain of their records. Membership is $30/year, otherwise there is a $10/day fee to access the group’s records – there is never a charge to access the Library’s reference collection.

At times people desire to know who lived on a particular Lot in early Cornwall and in the former Cornwall Township. Those records are bulky and delicate and therefore are stored in the Library basement. They can be accessed via the Franco Ontarian genealogy group. Those charts include:

For those looking for lists of “inmates” of local institutions, the Public Library also carries copies of the following booklets:
– The House of Refuge 1913 to 1952: Index of Names (Kitchener)
– Nazareth Orphanage 1909 to 1950 (Roy)